San Diego

Since we didn't make it into SD until after 11pm, our first night there was spent reveling in the warm, dry comfort of indoor accommodations. The next day, we drove around a little to see the sights and then found a cosmetology store where Heather could purchase professional hair color to do my hair! My vanity, however, was for a purpose (this time): Heather got a lead on a job at a hair salon in CO, but they wanted pictures of what she could do! So I got a color, highlight, cut and style, and Heather got a portfolio... Unfortunately, the salon still wants to see her work her magic in person before they give her a solid answer...

After Heather's salon closed down for the evening, we decided to check out the local entertainment- and no, we did NOT visit any of the substantial number of strip clubs we passed by! First, we went to check out who was rockin the Casbah- the actual place the Clash sing about!! We were a little late getting there- it was about 11- so we only got to see the last song by a group called The Big Damn Band, and I am at a complete loss to describe their music, other than it made me want to tap my feet and drink moonshine out of a jug marked XXX... The female in the band was playing a metal washboard, which she actually lit on fire!! Simply put: you must check them out!

The bartender at the Casbah suggested that we check out another local hole-in-the-wall, since he was impressed by our willingness to just go wherever along our travels, depending on what we want to see in any given place. He sent us to the Cherry Bomb, home of blood-red painted walls; black dungeon-like accents; a single pool table; and a jukebox. More importantly, it was also the home of a very attractive bartender who chatted at length with us about the art and design that goes into creating a tattoo and selecting the perfect placement on the body. Very cool. While there, we also met a variety of interesting characters, including a rabbi and a school teacher who also is involved in an electro-techno kind of band... The fact that we were at a bar really made me wish I remembered at least one of those really bad jokes... You know what I mean! ;-)

We partied into the wee hours of the morning, and then slept away the entire next day! We finally got out of bed to shower and find some authentic Mexican cuisine, and settled for On The Border, which is actually a chain, but their food was delicious anyway...

On Friday, we had some time to kill between checkout and when we planned to hit the road to our next destination, so we decided to find the beach. We found a nice private little beach area near the Loma Pt. Naval Base, and hung out there for a while soaking up the sun, which we missed dearly! While there, we saw many different boats of all sizes, and one of them was throwing out food to the birds. Not only did their offerings attract a variety of waterfowl, but we actually saw a dolphin surface and follow the boat along, picking up whatever the birds missed! Unfortunately, it moved so quickly that we weren't able to get any pictures, especially because we were so surprised to see it! After a while, we got a little adventurous and began looking among the rocks for any creatures that were hanging around after the tide went out... We spotted some crabs and a gooey-looking slug of some sort.

When we left, we drove around a little more, trying to find the other side of the peninsula we were on, and in the process we saw some gorgeous ocean-view homes and we stumbled on the Cabrillo National Monument.

The monument was the final resting place for thousands of naval soldiers, officers, etc and overlooked a gorgeous view of the ocean and the city below. It was a very peaceful place, suited to honor the deceased. At the very highest point, and the very tip of the peninsula, was a lighthouse which we explored. Although the tower itself was closed off, we were able to climb the spiral stairs leading up to it, and we also got to view the part that was the keeper's home, complete with reconstructed furnishings. On the other side of the peninsula, we were able to drive down to the water and explore the tide pools among the rocks. We saw lots of cool creatures, but my favorite was a big red sea slug (I'm not exactly sure that's what it was, but that's what it looked like!) that was showing down on the seaweed in the water. I poked it with the tip of my sunglasses, and it began to excrete a yellowish substance from its skin, an obvious defense mechanism, which was cool to see, since I've only seen stuff like that on the Discovery Channel, and here it was right in front of me!

When we were finished exploring, we hit the road, heading for Hermosa Beach, CA!

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